Fish products and Byproducts Technology

Unit 1- Principles of Fish Preservation

1.2. Proximate composition
What is proximate composition?

• Relationship of the major chemical constituents in terms of proportion to the whole weight expressed in percentage

What are all the parameters affecting the proximate composition of fish?

• Body part
• Species
• Age
• Sex
• Size
• Sexual maturity
• Habitat
• Fishing season

• Note: Protein content shows less difference in different fishes, whereas lipid content shows wide variations.
• Fat content decreases from tail towards head and from ventral towards dorsal portion.
• Fin fishes differ from terrestrial animals by the presence of dark muscle. Dark muscle contains more fat than white meat in some fatty fishes

Figure: Average proximate composition of fish